It was a crisp winter morning in Sheffield, England, when amateur photographer and plane enthusiast Alan Meloy looked out his kitchen window and noticed a large trail in the sky. He didn't know he was about to accidentally help uncover a highly sensitive, secret presidential trip to a conflict zone (www.cnn.com) Daha Fazlası...

When the President is a lying moron... it’s very hard to keep politics out of it.

By the way... This “informative article” is about the President. Do you not want them to write about the President? How can they avoid writing about the President if the entire article is about the President. Are you an idiot?

Various VC USA blue and white aircraft fly all the time without the President aboard. I've seen one of the 747s making approaches at WPAFB several times under non AF1 conditions. Very strict rules when it is AF1. As a vet I thought the trip was a great idea.

Ya and almost got spotted by a British airways pilot who called in and asked if Air Force one was in the area!!! Controller said no that was a gulfstream aircraft. If he spoke up and said no that was a 747 it would have blown their cover.

2. I'm not sure the ceiling limit in a 200 series, but I'm sure smooth air was part of that decision. light chop might mess up the Donalds hair!!Also, hard to hide anything on a "severe clear" morning, In this day altitude may not help either, ask the fine folks at Air Malaysia. Just sayin...

There never has and never will be such thing as "unbiased news". Everyone has some sort of bias, even the most reputable news organizations. The key is for such organizations to wear their bias on their sleeve and present all sides to a story. This is the key difference between news outlets like Fox and the NY Times.

Exactly what was negative about Trump in the article? Just because the news media merely mentions his name doesn't mean it's negative or fake. He's a big boy, he doesn't need people to look after him. He can yell at CNN louder than you ever can. Get a hobby.

1. Is there any significance to the "VC" and/or the "25" designations?2. Why would it be flying what seems to my uneducated "eye" to be so low, 31,000 feet? Why not higher, where it would be harder to hit and harder to identify?

V is used for the decked out versions of C (cargo) type aircraft just as R, E, and K are used for reconnaissance, electronics, and tanker versions. ie, VC-135(retired AF!), RC-135 and EC-135 (spy planes), and KC-135 (air-air refuelers). All versions built on the same airframe.

1. VC stands for "VIP Carrier".2. They were trying to look like a cargo flight on trackers (Reach callsign). Those aircraft usually fly around 30k ft. Even at 45k ft a zoom lens would still be able to ID the aircraft quite easily.

No, it does not. The "C" is the Basic Mission Letter and means that it's a Cargo aircraft. The "V" prefix is the Modified Mission Letter and indicates that it's modified and equipped for VIP use. All of this is easily verified. Google is your friend.

In theory, numbers in each series are supposed to be used sequentially, but the "C" for "Cargo" series jumps around like the rest of them. Basically, when this designation was assigned, "25" was available and the people who suggested and approved it liked it.

They're talking about the replacement "Air Force Ones" being designated as VC-25B, but I think they'll pick something else. The 747-8 is very different from the 747-200 and I think most politicians, especially presidents, would rather have an "A" than a "B" model.

Guessing that like most aircraft, they fly at the most fuel efficient and tail wind altitudes.Other considerations such as turbulence, other aircraft and concealment from hostiles may be involved.I'll put in a call to Sara Sanders in the meantime to see if she'll answer the question.

What about the comments from the Reuters reporter and Trump that they kept the window shades shut and the lights down for the flight for security reasons? I could see why they may have the plane dark closer to landing in Iraq but why would closing the window shades affect security?

Guessing the window shades were down to avoid showing it wasn't a cargo 747 flight.Safe to assume that all 747 flights into Iraq are Cargo.Sophisticated terrorists might suspect that a stunt like this was in the cards at any given time, and only had to give orders to shoot and any 747 or 757 with window lights aglow.That being said, I doubt they'll be caught off guard like that again, especially those proven, nasty, Obama, Clinton and Democrat funded and supported anti-American Iranians.

Hmm, FL310? Ability to be spotted by amateur photogs? AF1 Colors? This could have been a decoy for the benefit of CNN and the others so they'd have something to talk about. They're always ready to take the bait.

This guy has just assured that no one will ever be able to do that again. They'll be using a different aircraft or it will be painted in some other colors, fly at night, something. The Secret Service pays attention to stuff like this.

After once again proving to allies whose very existence depends on the *promised* U.S. support can and usually will evaporate with no notice. Why would anyone ever trust the US. You betrayed the Hmong in Vietnam, thousands of other Vietnamese and Cambodians who were abandoned when Hanoi fell, countless interpreters and fixers in Iraq and Afghanistan, and now the Kurds. Trump claimed Obama "founded" ISIS, but what he's just done is put their recruiting on steroids.

Sometimes you need to consider the long-term consequences of a decision rather that tweet something impulsive that not even your own DoD had any idea about, let alone your allies, solely for the short-term benefit of getting approval from Faux News and a few keyboard warriors on here.

1. Allies are born out of need not friendship. 2. Vietnam war based on BS (domino theory)3. Hanoi didn’t fall. Saigon did. 4. Gen Westmoreland lied to Presidents. Every GI realized no win without invading the north. 5.President does not report to Dod. Other way around.6. If we stay longer in Middle East then leave, what will be different than now? Americans are weary of spending life and $. 7. Neither Obama or Trump did or should put all their faith in generals or Dod. 8. Not a keyboard warrior Jack! Been there, done it.

Let's see...it has pretty much become a holiday tradition that POTUS shows up in a war zone to shmooz with some troops so what is the big deal. Just fly him in unannounced (if these trips are actually necessary-which is a debatable) and that should take care of it. Some guy in England saw AF1 fly over his house...so what!